Sanding glove for a drywall installer

ABSTRACT

A sanding glove for use by a drywall installer in making drywall installations with joints of drywall sheets, joint cement and reinforcing tape. The sanding glove is in the form of a mitten with all of its outside surfaces having adhesive and abrasive adhered thereto. The sanding glove also is preformed with flat and curved surfaces so as to efficiently rub and smooth the joint cement into smooth and inconspicuous joints prior to painting or covering.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a useful sanding glove for a drywall installer in the form of a mitten covered with adhesive and abrasive thereon so that the applicator wearer can make drywall joints and also sand the gaps between the edges of the drywall joints to be smooth and inconspicuous before painting or covering the drywall installation on a wall or ceiling.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Drywall is a construction material known by several names including sheetrock, gypsum board, gypsum wallboard and plasterboard. In this application the construction material is referred to as drywall. Drywall is a modern replacement for prior lath and wet plaster construction of walls and ceilings. Since wet plaster contains a large amount of water in its application form, drywall was developed for more speed and economy of dry construction. With drywall construction builders do not have to wait long periods for the wet plaster to dry before it can be painted or covered Drywall construction is used extensively now instead of wet lath and plaster because not only is it easier and faster to apply, but there is much less fuss and mess. Drywall is generally manufactured in standard rectangular sheets of 8 by 4 feet., with ¼ inch thickness. But other lengths and thicknesses can be supplied or can be cut on-site for the configuration required. The drywall sheets are made with a core of dry gypsum plaster covered on each side with heavy paper. Drywall sheets are also available with various surface coverings such as fabrics and prints. The standard sheet of drywall is made with recessed edges so that when two sheets have been placed flat alongside each other and nailed to the wall stud or ceiling joist, the butting gaps between the edges of the sheets can be filled with a trowel applying a special drywall joint cement therein, which is then reinforced by setting a special flat tape over the joint cement An additional coat of joint cement is feathered over the flat tape, or flat tape bent inwardly along its creased centerline, or flat tape bent outwardly along its creased centerline using a trowel and sponge. There is normally a roughness of the additional joint cement feathered over the reinforcing tape which must be sanded off to obtain a perfectly smooth and inconspicuous joint before painting or covering the drywall installation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Before the present invention, the finish smoothing of the additional joint cement over the reinforcing tape of drywall joints was accomplished by the drywall applicator having to use a separate sanding block covered with a removable sheet of sandpaper to rub over and smooth the dried additional joint cement over the reinforcing tape.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sanding glove for the drywall applicator to use and thereby eliminate the need and extra steps of: the applicator removing his customary waterproof glove; procuring a sanding block; applying or replacing a sandpaper sheet on the sanding block; and rubbing and smoothing the dried additional joint cement over the reinforcing tape.

Drywall installers customarily use waterproof gloves to protect their hands from the deleterious effect of joint cement on their hands. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a sanding glove which is not only waterproof but also can be used to rub and smooth the dried additional joint cement covering the reinforcing tape.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a waterproof sanding glove for a drywall applicator with preformed flat and curved surfaces. An adhesive and abrasives are adhered to the preformed surfaces so that the dried additional joint cement over the reinforcing tapes can be more effectively and easily rubbed and smoothed in lieu of using a sanding block with only flat surfaces thereon.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following drawings and detailed description:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A sanding glove for a drywall installer is depicted in the following drawings which form a part of this disclosure and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a portion of a typical drywall installation;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sanding glove for a drywall installer;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of FIG. 2 along line 3-3′ of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of FIG. 2 along line 4-4′ of FIG. 2

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the above drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in FIG. 1 a schematic of a typical flat drywall seam or joint, generally shown as 1. The wall stud or ceiling joist 2 forms the frame structure of a wall or ceiling. Two drywall sheets 3,4 are placed together alongside of each other. with their recessed edges 5,6 respectively abutting. After the recessed edges 5,6 have been nailed with galvanized nails 7,8 to the wall stud or ceiling joist 2 the gap or joint 9 between the recessed edges 5,6 is filled by trowelling therein a special gypsum drywall joint cement 10 which is then reinforced by setting thereon a special flat tape 11 onto the joint cement 10. A coat of additional joint cement 12 is feathered over the reinforcing tape 11. The additional joint cement is dried and smoothed to form an inconspicuous joint of the drywall installation before painting and covering.

Referring now to FIG. 2 there is shown a plan view of the sanding glove for a drywall installer of the present invention, generally referred to as 15. The glove 15 is formed or molded of rubber, plastic, fabric, or other waterproof material providing a waterproof enclosure of the hand (not shown) of the drywall applicator. The glove 15 is generally in the form of a mitten comprising: a fingers section 16 enclosing the fingers of the wearer; a thumb section 17 enclosing the thumb of the wearer; and a joining section 18 between and joining the fingers section and the thumb section 17. All of the outside surfaces of the sections 16, 17, 18 are coated with adhesive and sand, emery, or other abrasive thereon to enable the installer wearer to use the glove 15 in any direction to rub and smooth the dried additional joint cement 12 into finished joints 10 of the drywall installation before painting or covering. The bottom opening of the glove 15 has a closely fitting band 20 to tightly seal the wrist of the applicator against the entry of fluid contained within the joint cement 10 and additional joint cement 12.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the glove 15 is preformed with a half cylindrical configuration 21 at the top of the fingers section 16 which covers the tops of the fingers of the applicator so that the outside top surface of the half cylinder 21 can be used to more efficiently and easily rub and smooth the dried additional joint cement 12 feathered above the reinforcing tape 11. The glove 15 is also preformed with a hemisphere configuration 22 covering the top of the thumb of the applicator at the top of the thumb section 17 so that the outside top surface of the hemisphere 22 can be used to more efficiently sand and smooth curved dried additional cement 12 above the tape 11. The hemisphere 22 is also useful to sand and smooth other curved surfaces of drywall installations such as spindles and moldings used at the corners of some drywall installations. The glove 15 is further preformed with a half cylinder configuration 21 at the top of the joining section 18 between the finger section 16 and the thumb section 17 so that the outside top surface of the half cylinder 21 can be used to more efficiently rub outside curved surfaces of drywall installations.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 4 the glove 15 is additionally preformed with an outside V shaped configuration 20 along the right side edge of the finger section 16 so that the apex 21 and flat sides 26.27 of the V shaped configuration 20 can be used to rub along and smooth the dried additional joint cement 12 within adjoining drywall sheets 3,4 forming an inside corner of a drywall installation.

When adjoining drywall sheets 3,4 form inside or outside corners, as for instance the joinder of a wall with a ceiling to form an inside corner or the the joinder of a wall with another wall to form an outside corner, the reinforcing tape 11 is bent outwardly or is bent inwardly, respectively, along its creased centerline 14 to serve as the appropriate reinforcing tape 11 for the corresponding inside or outside corner of the drywall installation. The above description of the present invention is worn by a right handed applicator. It is a feature of the present invention that the sanding glove 15 need only be reversed to be worn by a left handed applicator.

The present invention has been defined by the embodiments set forth above, but it should be understood that this is by way of illustration only and that the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. Modifications and variations will be apparent from the disclosure without departing from the present invention as those skilled in the art will readily understand.

Accordingly, such modifications and variations of the disclosed present invention are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention and the following claims. 

1. A sanding glove for a drywall installer constructing a drywall installation with the edges of adjoining drywall sheets butted along side of each other and nailed to wall studs or ceiling joists with the gaps between the edges covered with joint cement, reinforced by paper tape and feathered with additional joint cement, which sanding glove is in the form of a waterproof mitten comprising: a fingers section with the top having the form of a half cylinder shape facing downward and enclosing the tops of the fingers of the installer, and with the right side edge having the form of an outside V shape; a thumb section with the top having the form of a hemisphere shape facing downward and enclosing the top of the thumb of the installer; and a joining section between and joining the fingers section and the thumb section having the form of a half cylinder shape facing upward between the fingers section and the thumb section; wherein all of the outside surfaces of the sanding glove are covered with adhesive and sand abrasive thereon so that the installer can wear said glove to rub and sand the dried additional joint cement into a smooth and inconspicuous joint before finish painting or covering the drywall installation.
 2. The sanding glove of claim 1 wherein the glove is formed of rubber.
 3. The sanding glove of claim 1 wherein the glove is formed of plastic.
 4. The sanding glove of claim 1 wherein the glove is formed of fabric.
 5. The sanding glove of claim 1 wherein the outside surfaces of the glove are covered with emery abrasive. 